Protocol Magi :ORIGIN / Episode 4

The Green Butterfly is the first episode of Protocol Magi :ORIGIN.

Characters

 * Mashiro Mitsu
 * Nakajima Shiori / Aubade
 * Oshiro Hanako / Hyacinth
 * Abe Kira / Solstice
 * Hikawa Naomi / Numina
 * Aoyama Anna
 * Minami Mio
 * Shitto
 * Unknown Messenger
 * Aikawa Fuuko
 * Kawamiya-sensei (Mentioned)
 * Kashida Miya (Mentioned)

Episode
C

E

Am

F

G

Naomi sat on her roof, her trusty guitar in hand, gently strumming the tune she knew so well. The strings vibrated with each stroke her fingers made over the well tuned strings. She smiled, eyes closed, as the wind gently moved her hair. It was as if though the calm in the air could be breathed. She felt completely at ease.

Some people may have said that it was cold, but Naomi wasn’t that bothered by it; she enjoyed these fleeting moments too much to care.

The black-haired girl had sat there for well over twenty minutes before her phone started buzzing. She finally opened her eyes, and stopped moving the strings. She sighed. It was time to get to school, she supposed. She rose up, pocketed the device, and took her guitar with her back into the building and her room. Once the instrument was securely placed onto it’s stand, Naomi stretched her hands over her head with a satisfied hum. Picking up the bag that stood ready by her door, she headed out.

A short walk of five minutes later, she entered the school premises, greeted by the large, plain walls. There was still a gaping hall where a Shade had torn up the wall the week that had passed. Of course, the hole had been covered up with tarpaulin and scaffolding. Work had also been started with repairing the large crater in the courtyard.

“Oi! Hikawa!”

Naomi turned towards the voice. “Oh, hey, Aikawa-san. Anything exciting happen?”

“Yeah, actually!” Aikawa Fuuko replied. “Did you know that the ice rink is totally trashed?”

“What?” Naomi asked, inwardly, she sighed. Kira was not happy about that. “What happened?”

“That's the thing! No-one knows,” Fuuko replied. “Apparently, by lunchtime, everything was fine and dandy, but then, a couple of hours later, there’s a huge hole in the roof, and the rink itself is completely trashed.”

“Wait, you got inside?”

“Gosh, no!” Fuuko laughed. “The police has the entire thing pretty locked down, but I could see some bits through the destroyed wall!”

“Do you think it’s the same as what happened here?” Naomi asked, gesturing towards the large crater in the school grounds and the torn up wall in the cooking club room.

“Possibly. No-one knows what happened here either,” The brunette replied.

“Well,” Naomi replied. “I am pretty sure what one of my friends thinks it is…”

“Seriously!” Mitsu eclaimed. “Shiori, I’m not kidding! The ice rink was destroyed during a fight between the Magical Girls and a Shade! But the Shade wasn’t alone! It had a Commander with it!”

“…That’s nice,” was the rather disinterested answer.

“Shiori!” the maniac whined. “Stop not listening to me! This is important!”

“Uh-huh…” No change in attitude. Mitsu frowned. Why couldn’t the bluehaired girl just understand that this was more important than, she took a look at the cover of the book the other was reading, ‘Advanced Physics by the Numbers’ book could possibly be. ”Stop reading that book and help me figure this out!”

”…Sure, whatever you say.”

At first, Mitsu was happy to get a positive answer. Then, when Shiori a full minute later turned page again, Mitsu realized Shiori had only said something out of reflexes, and hadn’t actually meant it.

”You didn’t hear a word I said, did you?” The maniac asked.

“Uh, sure, go for it.” …Yeah. Shiori wasn’t listening at all.

“Wait, you mean Mashiro-san?” Fuuko asked her classmate. “She has been acting a bit strange-… er, lately.”

“I suppose she has,” Naomi replied. “But as long as it keeps her happy, she can think whatever she wants?”

“KIIRA!!” Mitsu whined. “Shiori’s not listening to me! I need her opinion on this, and she won’t stop reading her book!”

“Is it her physics book for Cram school?”

“Uh… Maybe? I think?”

“…Good luck.”

“You abandon me too?!” Mitsu asked, affronted by the idea.

Kira shrugged. “You can’t really do too much about it. She has that test coming up, remember?”

“Well, yeah, but-…”

“Maybe lay off her back until the test has passed then?”

“B-b-but..!”

“Even if it makes you miserable and ready to burst. You know how important Cram School is to her.”

“KIIRAAA-…” Mitsu whined, followed by something sounding suspiciously like “betrayed by my own best friends…”

“Yeah, I suppose that’s true,” Fuuko replied. ”As long as she doesn’t bother anyone.”

“Come on! Shiori!” Mitsu was now prodding said girl repeatedly with her index finger. “Pay attention!”

“…Mmhmm…”

“Shiori! This is more important!”

“You know, Mitsu,” Kira commented, slightly amused by Mitsu’s fruitless attempts. “I’m not sure if you’ll ever get the response you want with that tactic.”

“Well, nothing else has worked!” Mitsu replied. “I even tried taking the book! She seriously has an iron grip on that thing!”

“I know,” Kira replied, briefly recalling said event. Mitsu trying her best to pull the book out of Shiori’s grasp, but the other seemingly didn’t even notice that another pair of hands were pulling at the book. “You really should stop that”, she added. Mitsu had gone on to poking Shiori’s cheek.

“But she’s not responding!” Mitsu replied. “I need her help to prove to Kawamiya-sensei that Magical Girls exist! He listens to Shiori for some reason!”

“Maybe because she doesn't spout things like ‘Magical Girls exist!’ in class?” Kira asked. She couldn’t help but laugh at the affronted look on Mitsu’s face. The maniac didn’t bestow her with an answer, merely turning to face the reading girl once more, grasping the girl by the shoulders and starting to shake her.

“WILL YOU STOP THAT?!” Shiori finally reacted. “Mitsu, I am trying to study!”

“..Yeah”, Naomi replied. She knew truly that Mitsu could and would be annoying if it led her any closer to her goal. The pair walked in silence towards their classroom for a minute, before Naomi spoke up. “Hey, do you know when that assignment in sociology was due..?”

Shitto paced around the room. A firm frown was set on her features. Three losses in the past couple days. Not a good track record.

“Yes, I know.” She said. “Pandora-sama’s upset. I get it.”

“I never said anything.” The voice that irked Shitto so much rang, once more, in her head.

“You were going to,” Shitto replied. “And, honestly, you’re predictable. Now, shoo.”

“How rude of you, Shitto,” the other replied, “I came to offer some advice, but it seems my services are unwanted.”

“Yeah, very much so,” Shitto growled, although she suspected that the other had actually left. She stood still for a moment, before clenching her fists. She vanished, leaving the room empty once more.

RIIIIIING!

Naomi closed the book and notebook in front of her, swiftly putting it, alongside her pencil case into her bag, and then rose up.

Slinging the bag over her shoulder, she left the room, intending to head for her locker and join up with her friends on the roof to eat her lunch. When she arrived, a few of the others had already made their way there, whilst it seemed some had not been released from class just yet.

“Hi,” she called, causing the parts of the group present to look up.

“Hey!” Anna grinned. “What’s up?”

“Nothing much,” Naomi shrugged. “Have you heard about the ice rink?”

“Oh, yeah! Completely wrecked, right?”

“Yeah, I heard from Aikawa-san,” Naomi replied. “Apparently it happened over a couple of hours, and no-one has any idea what happened.”

“THE MAGICAL GIRLS!” yelled a new voice. Naomi turned around, even if she didn’t need to to know that the remaining parts of their group had finally made it. “The Magical Girls fought a Shade and, what’s more interesting, a Commander! That’s why it’s totally trashed.”

“…Right,” Anna replied. “A Magical Girl. Very believable.”

“That’s what happened!” Mitsu retorted. “I was there! Kira was too! Come on, Kira, tell them!”

“Hey,” the girl replied. “I’m staying out of this. This is your fight.”

“KIIIRA!!”

Kira ignored the whining girl, instead speaking to the others, “although you should have seen her this morning. She tried to get Shiori to help her ‘convince Kawamiya-sensei that Magical Girls exist’.”

The others laughed, before Hanako asked, “how’d it go, Mitsu?”

“…” Mitsu didn’t answer.

Kira decided to end her little recount with, “don’t try to take away Shiori’s book. You’ll fail.” That got them laughing once more, much to the Manic’s dismay. “But was it really torn up?” Mio asked. “Won’t that be a problem for you, Kira? Since you have a competition coming up?”

“Well, yeah, but-…”

“GUYS!” Mitsu suddenly shouted. “Guess what Kira here forgot to tell us! The competition…”

“Mitsu, no.” Kira replied, bashfully.

“…that Kira’s competing in…”

“Mitsu!” Kira said. “They don’t need to know that!”

“…is not as local…”

“Mitsu, if you do not shut up, I’ll tell them what you really thought of skating yesterday.”

“… … … You wouldn’t dare.” Mitsu was now glaring at the other girl.

“Keep quiet, and your secret’s safe with me,” Kira grinned. “If not, it’s not, got it?”

“Okay,” Anna interjected. “You can’t say stuff like that and not share.”

“No.” The answer from the two was unanimous.

“What happened?” Naomi asked, having gotten curious about what actually had happened. “You were skating yesterday?”

Mitsu answered “…yeah” at the same time as Kira added her thought with a completely straight face. “No, we spent the entire day at my house, giving each other makeovers and talking about boys.” “Kira!” Mitsu looked aghast. “That never happened!”

“Well,” Kira replied, a smug smile making it’s way onto her face. “That’s what we agreed on, isn’t it?”

“NO!”

“You never said that it wasn’t! What was I supposed to believe?!”

“Not that!”

No matter how much the others pried, neither Kira nor Mitsu would disclose any more of what they had been up to the few days before; the deal to not share anything fresh in both their minds. Lunch break passed quicker than most of them liked, but not quick enough for some others, and the group headed back down into the building. Kira and Mitsu had fallen back into quick back and forth banter, and Naomi couldn’t help but smile at their antics. Anyone who didn’t know the pair would instantly believe that they were the worst of enemies, but in reality, out of the entire group, the pair was likely the closest.

As the group approached Naomi’s classroom, and Naomi said a “see you after school”, before heading into the room, waving a greeting at the students that had already gathered.

Shitto frowned, fidgeting with the device in her hands. She was standing on the same roof as little over a week ago. “Why can’t the stupid thing work?” she asked. “I got a signal before, so why not now? The Magi” she spat the word as if it was infected, “can’t have gotten to her first, could they?”

Even when she shook the poor device, it wouldn’t give off any indication of a signal that she wanted to see. More than a little bit peeved, her eyes flashed, and a glow enveloped her body, before she faded from view. Now cloaked – and at least a little bit less likely to get spotted by a Magi ahead of time – she simply walked off the edge of the roof she was standing on, but instead of falling, she rose slightly into the air, and moved forward as if she was standing on an invisible, moving platform.

School finally ended. Naomi rose her arms into the air, and stretched as she exited the building, before heading to the gates of the school - the place where the group met up when walking home after school. She held her bag in her hands, and leaned back at one of the trees, closing her eyes and smiled as the sunlight warmed her face, waiting for her friends. Her peace, however, was interrupted not to long afterwards.

Not by one of her friends approaching her, nor the general foley of her fellow students. By now, she had learned to shut out certain sounds. What did disturb her, however, was the fact that, with her eyes closed (and thus being able to focus more on her other senses), she could make out a very certain, foreboding sound. It didn’t seem to be very close, but the fact that it was there, was what brought Naomi out of her state of peace. People were screaming.

She cast a glance towards the entrance of the school, trying to see if she could spot her friends, but having no such luck, she pulled her bag up on her shoulder, before heading out of the school grounds, simultaneously opening a group chat.

''Naomi: “Possible Shade. Might be nothing. I’m going to check it out.”

Hanako: “I’m by my locker RN. If you wait a bit, I’ll come with you.”

Naomi: “If it’s a Shade, you know I can’t wait.”

Shiori: “We’ll get to you as soon as possible. Do you know where?”

Naomi: “Nope, still gotta find it. The usual goes?”

Shiori: “The usual. No message, and we assume it’s a Shade.”

Naomi: “Got it.”''

By now, the sound was louder; Naomi had gotten closer to the screams, and she could now make out other sounds that seemed to indicate an attack as well; a few crashing sounds here and there. That, and the fact that she passed the odd person running in the opposite direction of her. Rounding a corner of a building, she came into Hanabi Central Park. And sure enough, there was a Shade. The oversized monster had seemingly been created from a lamppost, and was terrorising the few that were left in the park (including a dozen or so pidgeons).

The final few people in the park rushed past her, and now, knowing she was alone with the monster, a determined expression settled onto her features. Without taking her eyes off the Shade, she rose her right hand to her mouth, gently touching the metal of her ring with her lips. She then held her hand out in front of her.

Shiori looked at the clock on her phone.

“Five minutes,” she said. “We need to go.”

“Yeah,” Kira replied, and the three girls ran off into a nearby alley where they could transform without being spotted.

“How did you loose Mitsu again?” Hanako asked when they finally arrived, as she held out her left arm in front of her, displaying the bracelet charm dangling off of it. Kira placed two fingers at her right earring.

“Kawamiya-sensei wanted to speak with her after our lesson,” Shiori replied, clutching her own pendant.

Mitsu grumbled. She was so mad at the teacher in question. Even though Mitsu had evidence, the teacher still wouldn’t believe that the reason for the destruction of school property had been a fight between superpowered girls and a monster larger than a bus, and apparently, in the eyes of the teacher, “spreading rumours and falsities regarding these kinds of things is not acceptable”. Because gang vandalism was so much more believable.

She was only leaving the building when her Maniac senses picked up on what made her hate Kawamiya-sensei even more; whilst she had been trapped in the classroom with the teacher, another attack had occurred. While most wouldn’t be able to notice it, Mitsu’s Magi-Maniac senses picked up on the subtle hints (if spotting a red Magi over some of the building push off against something Mitsu couldn’t see (she assumed it was Aubade’s forcefields) counted as "subtle") that a fight was currently happening in Central Park.

“If I miss them because of Kawamiya-sensei,” Mitsu said. “I swear I’m gonna…”

And, like that, she took off running, the need to meet the Magi again bigger than the need for oxygen.

Hyacinth crashed into the ground, frowning. The thing had directed a beam of light right at her when she was about to land a powerful punch, and she had instinctively shielded her face from the light. She swiftly moved out of the way, when an appendage from the shade smashed into the ground where she had been only a second before. “I can’t get close!” she called.

“Working on it!” came the answer from the bluehaired Magi who was dodging and blocking attacks from the giant lamp post, serving as support for the other three.

“Me neither!” Solstice replied from where she was holding up a large appendage trying to smash her into the ground. A blue ripple appeared above her, taking over the weight of the monster, allowing Solstice to get away.

Only, of course, to instantly be assaulted by Shitto. “You know what,” the commander sneered. “I was too kind when I said you were pests. I’ve had a rough day,” she blocked an attack coming from Numina, “and you are not making it any better.”

The four Magi traded blows with the Commander and Shade for a few moments, and this was when Mitsu rounded the corner of the building and seeing the fight in a front row seat. She instantly noticed the green Magi.

“Are you kidding me?” Mitsu asked, and instantly re-evaluated her own placing in the Magical Girl anime she now had made of her life. By logic, she wasn’t even among the Main 4. And she wasn’t too happy about that.

Someone else, who wasn’t too happy, was Aubade. Hyacinth would’ve, in any other situation, laughed at her expression that conveyed in very clear words how done she was with the Maniac showing up.

Unfortunately, the Commander also noticed the new addition to the setting, and as a response to that, the Shade suddenly stopped attacking the Magi, instead heading for the defenceless girl. It readied an attack, but before it could hit, Aubade stood in between it and Mitsu, blocking the attack with a forcefield. “Numina!” the leader called. “Get her out of here. Preferably to somewhere it’ll take a while to get away from.”

“Got it, Captain!” Numina replied, and in less than a second and a gust of wind later, Mitsu found herself in Numina’s arms, bridal style.

“Wha-…” Mitsu said, “no, I don’t want to leave!”

“You don’t have a choice”, Aubade replied.

“I hope you’re not afraid of heights,” Numina said, before crouching down, and green sparkles formed around her, following the patterns of the breeze around Numina.

“Afraid of heights?” Mitsu asked. “What do you mean, ‘afraid of heEEEEIIGHTSSSS?!’”

Numina had jumped into the air, using the sparkles to control the winds to boost herself further.

The pair landed a couple of blocks away, and it was a very shaken Mitsu that Numina put down.

“Listen, I would have put you down further away from here,” Numina said, “but I need to get back to the fight, and I can’t do that as soon as possible if I need to keep you away from it. Please don’t come back to the park until the fight is over. And maybe not even then.”

“Wait!” Mitsu called when Numina turned to leave. “Two things; who are you, and how did you do that! None of the others have been able control their movement in the air to the same extent you did!”

Numina turned around, and smiled. “Who we are is a secret, but much like you know the others’ names when we’re like this, you can call me Numina. As for how I did what I did… A girl’s gotta have her secrets, right?”

And she jumped back into the air, and used those same green sparkles to control the flow of air around her to boost herself back to the fight. When she got closer, she saw that the Magi were still on even ground with the Commander and Shade, she saw her chance to end the fight. “Numina…” Her hands glowed with a green light, and the sparkles started swirling around her legs – giving her a tornado-like boost. “TEMPEST!” She soared closer to the monster, and held her hands out before her. Having the element of surprise, her attack landed as her hands made contact with the Shade, stopping Numina’s moment instantly, and causing a shockwave, which forced a black pearl out the back of the Shade in a green glow. The glow dissipated, and the pearl cracked to dust.

“Tch,” Shitto clicked her tongue as she noticed her underling getting defeated from where she floated blocking a punch coming from Solstice.

Hyacinth noticed Shitto letting down her guard the same moment it happened, and attacked with an overhead kick, but before she could make contact, Shitto vanished.

Hyacinth landed again, and the four Magi looked at the remnants of the fight. “That finisher was perfectly placed,” Solstice grinned.

“I merely saw an opportunity,” Numina smiled back.

“That you did, that you did.”

“I’d say this was a success,” Aubade agreed. “Although I have one complaint.” This caused the other three to look at her with puzzled looks. As far as they knew, there wasn’t anything they could have done differently in the fight.

“Stop calling me Captain.”

“Not a chance, Captain.”

Mitsu had stayed where Numina had put her down exactly 34 seconds after the other had departured, being determined to make it back to the park before the Magi left. Then, she arrived to the scene with eyes filled with expectations to get more answers.

“OH COME ON!”

The Magi had already left.